Dancing Through Life
by scottishfae
Summary: Rainy seasons come and go, but there are some people that are never affected. There are some people that shine regardless of the weather outside; and those people drag those around them into that sun.


**Title**: _Dancing Through Life_

**Author**: scottishfae

**Character**/Pairing: Naruto; Slightly Naruto x Shikamaru

**Rating**: G

**Word Count**: 2,113

**Warnings**: BL/Yaoi/Shonen-ai; very light

**Summary**: Rainy seasons come and go, but there are some people that are never affected. There are some people that shine regardless of the weather outside; and those people drag those around them into that sun.

**Author's Note**: Originally written for Naruto Secret Santa 2009. I'm working on a slight rewrite of this, but have no idea when it'll come out.

_A huge thank you goes to tasukigirl for her feedback._

**Recipient**: bgreenwivy

* * *

Everyone was sick of it. It hadn't stopped raining in weeks and now people were beginning to prepare for flooding. Ninja and civilians alike were rushing to put sandbags at potential flood points, and certain areas of the town were being evacuated as a precaution. This, of course, led to too many exhausted and annoyed shinobi. They were all being overworked, even on top of missions, and the weather wasn't helping keep morale.

Shikamaru grunted. He had been spending a better portion of the week helping figure out the configuration of the sandbags and looking at the readings of the water levels of the nearby rivers, ponds, lakes, mud puddles, and every other source of water within the 100 mile radius of Konoha (or so it seemed). But by the end of the week, after several weeks of people working in and out of the cold water, a nasty virus was hitting the immune weakened population and even Shikamaru was pulled in from the planning committee to help work the grunt work.

He hated the grunt work.

He also hated the people who could take on such brute work with a positive attitude and without a single complaint. Of course, there weren't people like that here, but seeing Naruto making jokes, smiling, and shining amongst his friends like the sun itself, regardless that he was covered in mud and had been working for fourteen hours straight, was close enough. Shikamaru desperately wanted to throw something at the blond shinobi.

He did.

And the mud fight that ensued lasted for twenty minutes.

* * *

Naruto laughed as he walked down the sidewalk. There still wasn't a sign of fatigue in his body, though his eyes seemed a little more glazed than usual. "How can you still have so much energy?" Shikamaru complained.

The others around him mumbled in agreement. Just looking at the blond was making him tired. Naruto just shrugged. "I like the rain."

"And the mud," Tenten mumbled, still pulling chunks of stuck mud from the back of her shirt. She squelched as she walked from the water in her shoes. They all did. The sound was nauseating.

"This rain you like so much may end up taking out a good chunk of Konoha," another ninja spoke up. The group was haphazard; taking whomever was still able to fortify the city. They were all walking back to their homes—to dry off, clean up, and sleep—and split off as they came to their intersections.

"That's what we're working this hard for, so that it won't. But when the rain stops, everything around us will bloom."

Which was true. The cold rains were just the sign of the end of winter. Soon, if the water didn't wash everything away first, the plants would be renewed and the woods around them would spring back to life.

But that was if the rains stopped soon.

The others in the group, including Tenten and Shikamaru, just rolled their eyes. No one ever denied that Naruto was idealistic, though his earlier naivety had long sense faded. He was just Naruto—the person who was able to persevere in the most difficult of situations, and who could turn any person into his friend. Well, most people at least. 'Cause in the end, you either loved or hated Naruto, there was no in-between.

Shikamaru was brought out of his daydreaming by an arm thrown around his shoulder. He could feel the excess water being squeezed from his shoulders and running down his body. His clothes were too saturated to absorb it, so it just ran down his clothing to drip off at his pant legs. He flinched and looked up. Naruto smiled down at him. "You guys have to have more faith in Shikamaru and the people in the planning committee. They've got this figured out. We'll be fine."

There was a sense of pride that struck Shikamaru at his long-time friend's words. It was quickly washed away with dread and doubt. He pushed the arm off of his shoulder and continued to walk forward. Someone else in the group chose to banter back and forth with the blond, but the other simply ignored them as the group continued to splinter and grow smaller and smaller in size.

* * *

He regretted living so far across town. He regretted more that he lived so close to Naruto. It wasn't always bad—the blond would often bring him dinner and beer, and they would waste away their free time watching TV. But now, when all he wanted was to go home and sleep, he was walking with a blond whose energy had no bounds.

"Naruto, can you just stop?"

The blond looked at him with his head cocked to his side. Shikamaru was not fooled. Naruto was smart, smarter than most people gave him credit for—smarter than even he liked to show. And who could blame him. People would often underestimate him, think he was all brawns and no brain, and it worked in his favor time and time again. No, Shikamaru was a genius, and he knew Naruto, and he wouldn't be fooled by this 'play dumb' trick he often used on the people around him.

"Why are you so energetic? You just worked for fourteen hours?"

Naruto smiled and shrugged. "I just like—"

"The rain," the two finished together. Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

He could feel his shoulders slumping as he walked. He was glad to see his apartment building just down the road, _finally_. Naruto's building was just a little bit further down, and across the street from his own. They both sagged from age, though Naruto's had a little bit more colour added to it—thanks to the boisterous blond—than the dull gray that painted most of the buildings in this area. It wasn't the best area to live—but there were some good food stalls nearby, and the rent was cheap.

"You wanna do something? I'm kind of hungry, figured I would walk down and pick up some food. I can bring something over, if you'd like."

Shikamaru shook his head. All he wanted to do was bathe and sleep.

"You sure?"

"Yes. Unlike some people, I don't have enough energy to power a whole city. I need sleep." Shikamaru was aware that he sounded like a bitter old man, but at this point, he felt that it was necessary. Only being blunt would get through to the blond man in front of him—and sometimes not even that.

Naruto shrugged. He wasn't going to argue, at least not at this point. "Fine. I'll check in on you tomorrow then?"

Shikamaru grunted, letting the blond decipher that how he felt. He trudged over to the main door of his building, keyed in the door combination and gratefully stepped into the building, and out of the rain. The main staircase ran at the front of the building behind fire doors, but opened up by windows that faced out to the street. There was an elevator, but it was iffy on when it worked and too often smelled strongly of urine. The lazy man decided not to test the old contraption and made his way up the stairs.

He was about halfway up when he noticed something out on the street. It was just slightly right of the window so he had to angle himself to see it, but sure enough there it was.

Naruto was still outside, standing at an intersection that was just three buildings down from his own. But…he wasn't standing. He was dancing. Spinning around, arms raised, bouncing and shaking to a beat that only he could hear. He seemed at ease, allowing the rain to wash over him; to wash a lot of the non-matted mud off.

Shikamaru leaned against the window and watched the man. He took two steps forward, then two steps back. He spun around to his knees then came up with his whole body in a wave before spinning again. It was odd to see a full grown man dancing in the streets with no music around. It was odder to see it through the haze of rain that blanketed the area.

But Naruto smiled throughout. He was always smiling, and that was what drew people to him. He had the ability to find the good in any situation, even if he whined and complained the whole way through. But surrounded by the muddy streets, soaked from head to toe, Naruto himself shined.

Shikamaru brought up his hands and quickly looked for the latches that secured the window shut. Seeing it, he unlocked the window and slid it open. "Naruto," he called out. It took him a couple times to get the blond's attention.

"I changed my mind," he yelled again. "Dinner in thirty?"

The blond man smiled. "Price has changed, it's gonna cost you now."

The lazy genius furrowed his brow. This was different. "What cost?"

Naruto extended his hand to him. Of course it was just a gesture. Shikamaru was four floors up. "Join me!"

Shikamaru wanted to laugh. He didn't dance. He didn't even liked going to the parties where there was dancing. And he certainly didn't like the rain. But standing outside, not even noticing the rain any longer, Naruto asked him to come.

And it was really hard to say no to Naruto.

Pulling back inside the building, Shikamaru locked the window back up and walked down the stairs. He paused at the doors, debating again if he should go out. But Naruto had moved so that he was standing in the street right outside the door. They could see each other, and there was no denying him now.

"You better be treating me to a big, expensive meal after this," Shikamaru grumbled as he exited the door.

Naruto rushed forward and caught the other man by his left hand. "You don't like big, expensive meals," he said smiling. He was right.

Shikamaru was dragged forward, back into the rain, and spun around. "I know you don't enjoy the rain," the blond began. "But sometimes it's good for your soul."

And they danced.

Naruto led, Shikamaru followed. They spun, they dipped, they bounced to a beat that floated between them. A beat that followed the rain, that flowed off of lips and tongues between them, and filled their ears with smiles.

"See," Naruto said, his voice low and husky. He brought Shikamaru close to him, his hands resting lightly on the other's hips. "You never dance, but you're really good at it."

The lazy man said nothing, catching his breath. He leaned against Naruto, his forehead resting on the blond's shoulder. Naruto's arms shifted to encircle thin hips. "Why?" he whispered to the man holding him. Naruto hummed his curiosity.

"How can you still shine in this weather?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't shine," he objected.

Shikamaru brought a hand up to pinch Naruto's side. He moved his hips to get away from the slight pain, but he didn't shake away the other man. "Okay, fine. I _glow_. But I don't shine."

The other man rolled his eyes. "The moon glows, but only through the grace of the sun. There isn't anyone brighter than you."

"You're awfully talkative and complimentary all of the sudden."

"I've worked fourteen hours lifting sandbags just to go home and dance in the rain, I can be a little out of character in my exhaustion."

Naruto laughed. He really laughed; one that came from his stomach and rippled up through his throat to spill from his lips. It was a wonderful sound. "Then we should cure this horrible crime against your personality."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Go home and dry off. I'll go do the same, then grab some food and head over."

Reluctantly Shikamaru stepped away from the other man's embrace. He sighed. Now that he was thinking about it, away from the dream like hold Naruto could cast over him, the dreary rain was beginning to seep back into his mood. He nodded.

Naruto smiled softly. "See, you're already going back to normal," he said. Leaning forward Naruto ghosted his lips over Shikamaru's. It was a feeling both had felt before, but rarely explored beyond alcohol-sodden minds. Neither objected. It was something to be explored later. After they were clean, showered, and fed.

"No beer," Shikamaru added.

"No beer," Naruto agreed.

Naruto watched as the other man walked back towards his apartment building before turning and walking towards his own place. Shikamaru keyed the code into the building, and began what he had started earlier.

Climbing up the stairs, Shikamaru watched as Naruto walked down the street.

No, not walked.

Naruto danced.

* * *

_Thank you for reading~!_


End file.
